


Orange Candles

by primalrageanddumbassery



Category: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Genre: Alternate Universe, Henry Clerval is Pan, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Middle School AU, Pining, The Fuck Is A Plot, Victor Frankenstein is Gay, Victor Frankenstein ships ZaDr and you can die mad about it, Victor frankenstein is a tumblr gay, cheesy as fuck, henry is That Aesthetic Guy, im a day late but happy pride month frankensimps, straights aren't allowed, this is a tumblr ___core aesthetic callout post, this is also an instagram aesthetic callout post, you read the tags right invader zim is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-02
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25027126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primalrageanddumbassery/pseuds/primalrageanddumbassery
Summary: Victor is at Henry's house for the first time and it's an Experience. Awkward middle school crushes are so much fun.
Relationships: Henry Clerval/Victor Frankenstein
Comments: 9
Kudos: 10





	Orange Candles

**Author's Note:**

> Pining. That's it. I am physically incapable of writing anything further than pining because pining is about the farthest I ever get in a relationship because I am, in fact, a coward. So yeah.  
> Also- the AU this is set in is kind of a middle school AU, although it's never specified in the fic. Some things to know about this particular AU-  
> Victor and Henry are in 8th grade. Henry is really into writing and is starting to get into drawing.  
> Victor and Elizabeth are PLATONIC AS HELL in this  
> Victor is gay and Henry is pan. They became friends because Henry made Victor's gaydar go batshit off the charts and Victor was the only queer kid in the school (that he knew of). It wasn't out of romantic attractions, more out of need for community (although it would become romantic later).  
> Not that yall probably care or are even reading this still, but I wanted to put this just in case I do anything else in this AU of mine.

Orange candles. It was the first thing Victor noticed upon entering Henry's room. The scent of citrus was not so overpowering that it smacked you in the face the second you walked in, but at the same time potent enough that it filled Henry's room entirely.  
Henry came over to his bead and sat down awkwardly, fidgeting with his bracelet nervously as though he was afraid Victor might be disgusted. That was the furthest possible thing from the truth.  
The second thing Victor noticed was that it was a damn mess, but in an almost organized way if that were possible. The piles of papers sprawled across the desk with Henry's curling script seemed intentional and aesthetically driven. It wasn't as pretentious as, like, Instagram moodboards. Closer to one of those moodboards for a minuscule Tumblr ___core community that you don't even know is your favorite thing until you accidentally stumble upon it while looking at Invader Zim fanart (and no, this very specific scenario was NOT personal experience, fuck OFF). He wondered for a second if maybe this was accidental and Henry was just that Aesthetic™️, but knowing the guy, this was probably entirely intentional and the idealistic setting likely helped Henry's writing process.  
"Do you… like it?" Henry asked in the tiniest voice Victor had ever heard from him. Victor grinned, taking a deep, orange-scented breath.  
"Dude, your room is so cool. I love it." Henry's usual infectious smile returned.  
"Thanks, Vick." Victor made his way to Henry's bed and sat down beside him. Their hands were incredibly close on the mattress, but Victor brushed that knowledge aside. They were both queer in one way or another (Victor gay and Henry pan) and both were well aware of this fact. It was a conversation topic just as casual to them as homework or TV. With that said, Victor didn't like thinking about the possibility that he could have a crush on Henry, especially after he'd told his suspicious mother that he "thought of Henry more as a brother than a love interest" in order to coax her into letting him come over to his friend's house. He almost blamed her bringing it up for the idea in the back of his mind that maybe… just maybe he might have caught a few feelings. Thinking about it further, he decided that he didn't want to think about it further. And here we are.  
"So…" Henry said nonchalantly, but Victor could see through the acting casual. Henry desperately wanted to show him something.  
"So?" Victor echoed, intrigued. Henry grinned, the left side of his smile stretching a little higher than the right in an oddly charming way.  
"I wrote… something. I know, I know, 'imagine that'. Just listen." He launched himself off the bed and half-walked, half-skittered over to the desk next to the window.  
"Do not ask me what any of it means, I have no idea," he prefaced, glancing over the paper in his hand. "Its the kind of stuff that's, like, '3 am thoughts' except it was written around 4:16 in the afternoon. On the bus. So, uh, yeah." He looked at it for a few seconds longer before handing the paper to Victor hesitantly.  
Victor read over what he found out was a poem about weird, abstract concepts that Victor didn't even want to try to tackle.  
"You weren't kidding, Christ," Victor remarked. Henry's bright eyes straight up twinkled, his freckled face breaking into an almost wild grin.  
"I told you," he chuckled. They went back and forth for awhile about anything. It was almost the same as when they were at school -two people with bizarre interests sharing cursed images and memes, sharing a pair of ear buds in homeroom and taking turns playing their own music- but there was something far more personal about being on Henry's bed, then criss-cross on Henry's floor, then with a hand on Henry's chair as Henry leaned over his desk to show him something on his laptop. He knew Henry. He knew that at this point, he knew Henry really well, even to the point of having picked up some of his friend's mannerisms and gestures, but to see the room of his best friend felt… it felt different. He knew it was good different, but what kind of different beyond that he didn't know. He didn't need to know quite yet. He kind of knew already, roughly an hour into being at Henry's, that there was more to that relationship than he wanted to address at the moment, but that was a problem for a future Victor. Right now, he took a deep breath in. It smelled like orange candles.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey join the Discord Frankensimps server  
> That's not the name I just call it that cause it's the truth  
> https://discord.gg/aVQgGe6  
> I RP the Victor tupperbot and it's the best, come join us


End file.
